Birding Kyoto help no field guide?????? (1 Viewer)

peachfront

Well-known member

• Apr 6, 2005

• #1

I have a great super-cheap airfare to Nagoya and (probably) a place to stay in Kyoto in late May. I'm now seeking information about the birding in the Kyoto area and, also, can it really be true that there is no field guide to the birds of Japan? What do I do? Ideas? If anyone can point me to a site with checklists and illustrations of the birds I'm likely to see, maybe I could print something myself on some kind friend's color printer? Getting worried here...

 

S

Steve Lister

Senior Birder, ex County Recorder, Garden Moths.

• Apr 6, 2005

• #2

peachfront said:

I have a great super-cheap airfare to Nagoya and (probably) a place to stay in Kyoto in late May. I'm now seeking information about the birding in the Kyoto area and, also, can it really be true that there is no field guide to the birds of Japan? What do I do? Ideas? If anyone can point me to a site with checklists and illustrations of the birds I'm likely to see, maybe I could print something myself on some kind friend's color printer? Getting worried here...

Click to expand...

There is a fg to Birds of Japan but it may be out of print. I have a copy.

Steve

 

peachfront

Well-known member

• Apr 7, 2005

• #3

How much do you want for it?

 

S

Steve Lister

Senior Birder, ex County Recorder, Garden Moths.

• Apr 7, 2005

• #4

peachfront said:

How much do you want for it?

Click to expand...

Not for sale - sorry

Steve

 

peachfront

Well-known member

• Apr 7, 2005

• #5

I know -- I was teasing

It is a rare book now and quite valuable. I'm going to try to find a copy I can make a copy of or borrow from one of the birders in my local area. Pray for me!

 

Laurence H

Well-known member

• Apr 7, 2005

• #6

I went to Japan about five years ago and had to buy a book over there. The only one I found was a photographic guide which although in Japanese has an index of latin names. Each species has at least a page of photos with a distribution map, and their name in English, but the rest is all Japanese. However, once I got used to it, it was very usable, and it is small and portable. (Much easier to use than to buy, not speaking Japanese!)

The title in English is 'Wild Birds of Japan' and the ISBN number is - ISBN4-635-07007-7

I bought it in a book shop in Tokyo, no idea which one though!

Good luck,

Laurence

 

Joe H

Well-known member

• Apr 9, 2005

• #7

Peachfront,

Have a look at the LG Evergreen Foundation’s "A Field Guide to the Birds of Korea." This is a handy little book (5" x 7”) and contains color illustrations of 450 species, and is written in English. It's by Woo-Shin Lee, Tae-Hoe Koo and Jin-Young Park. It has maps which cover Japan and would be a much less expensive than the out-of-print Japanese guide mentioned above. New and used copies are available from Amazon. I'm not an expert but I suspect this book and a good species list (I think there are around 17-21 endemics in Japan) would give you a good starting point. Good luck.

Joe H

I just found some old web sites that I had saved while planning for a trip to Japan (that never occurred). I don't know if these are still active links - -

Good pictures: http://www.otterside.com/htmfiles/japan.htm

Interesting bilingual list: http://www.geocities.jp/yuichiro_masuda/nature/birding/eiwae.html

Great list: http://www.mcs.le.ac.uk/~ferjan/BIRDS/Lists/JapanChecklist.html

List with linked photos: http://www.tsuru-bird.net/image.htm

 

Last edited: Apr 9, 2005

HokkaidoStu

occasional moderator

Staff member

Supporter

• Apr 9, 2005

• #8

Hi-as mentioned above the Korean Field Guide has 95% of the birds likely to be seen in Japan and is currently in print. The only english guide to Japan as stated has been out of print for ages. There are several rather good photographic guides in Japanese-just go to any bookshop.............

 

peachfront

Well-known member

• Apr 10, 2005

• #9

Thanks everybody. You have been a terrific help!